The present invention relates generally to keyboards and monitors in a personal computer system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a switching device for switching control between two sets of keyboard/monitor pairs.
In recent years, the personal computer has become a necessity for a wide variety of individuals performing tasks in every conceivable industry. Nearly every personal computer includes a keyboard for inputting data and a monitor for providing the user with feedback from the computer as well as an indication as to data entered on the keyboard. The keyboard/monitor pair is customarily located in close proximity to the computer itself. This is mainly for convenience, especially in connection with the use of disk drives which are ordinarily built into, the computer unit itself.
For many applications, it is useful to access the computer from more than one location via an independent keyboard/monitor pair. For example, in the case where a scientist maintains an office and a laboratory in separate locations, he may want to access the same computer from each of these locations. Maintenance of the two keyboard/monitor pairs in the two locations requires a switching box which permits the user to switch access between the keyboard/monitor pair in the office and the keyboard/monitor pair in the laboratory.
The disadvantage of such a switching box is that it requires manual switching between the two keyboard/monitor pairs. Typically, the box is situated near one of the keyboard/monitor pairs. Therefore, use of the switching box becomes particularly inconvenient when the scientist sits down at the keyboard/monitor pair in the location where the switching box is not located. In this case, if the switching box is not set to the remote keyboard/monitor pair, the scientist must get up and go to the switching box to switch access to the remote location.